2012: a year in tech

People are captivated by gadgets, so it is no surprise the Apple iPhone continued to be one of the most popular Technology and Digital Life topics this year, accounting for several top stories, but it was two science discoveries that captured the most attention. You can re-read them, or enjoy them for the first time, by following the supplied links.

1. Where did it go? Scientists "undiscover" Pacific island

The incredible story of the team of Australian scientists who found an island that appeared on maps and charts, but didn't actually exist.

September saw the biggest technology release of the year. Not surprisingly, people from all over the world hit the internet to know more and the story on the Sydney Morning Herald online was one of the most viewed.

Kristen Neel, a teenager from Georgia in the US, gained Twitter infamy in Australia in a matter of hours on the night of the presidential election with one misguided tweet. After news President Obama won four more years, the 18-year-old tweeted: "I'm moving to Australia, because their president is a Christian and actually supports what he says." She has since deleted her Twitter account.

"I suppose I just woke up one day [in 2008] and said, 'I've done all the things I'm supposed to do to make me happy and successful and I'm not', so I kind of went a bit overboard and just ditched my job, ditched my boyfriend and booked a ticket to Africa and went and lived in a rainforest." Avis Mulhall is now working as a tech entrepreneur in Sydney.

A 19-year-old Ukrainian woman transformed herself into a real-life anime girl, with a daily ritual of painstakingly applying make-up to create a look that's a spitting image of characters from Japanese cartoons or computer animation.

bit.ly/SBD7vq

10. Facebook mistakes elbow for breast

The social network's strict policy of banning "pornographic" content was in the spotlight in November. After realising its blunder, Facebook later restored the photo and apologised: "We made a mistake and sent an apology to the original poster," it told gossip blog Gawker.

In April, Mac users got a rude wake-up call when it was revealed more than 500,000 Apple machines had been infected with a virus. Even Apple couldn't deny it, releasing an urgent patch to plug at least a dozen security holes in its software.

The backlash against 24-hour connectivity started to gather pace around the world early in January, after Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff approved a new law that determined answering work emails on smartphones after the end of shifts qualified workers for overtime.